Study on performance improvement of PTFE/Mg-film infrared decoy burning at low temperature

In order to improve the high combustion temperatures of the traditional PTFE/Mg-based infrared decoy, a discrete array infrared decoy material with a low burning temperature was prepared based on an additive of red phosphorus/copper oxide(P/CuO). Thin foils were made by process and formulation designs. It may be achieved that the foils were ignited at low temperature and burn stably at low temperature. The samples were tested for their relative parameters such as burning rate and the obtained parameters were analyzed. The results show that, after red phosphorus/copper oxide thermite is added therein, the ignition temperature of the foils of 0.5 g thin foils with a dimension of 150 mm15 mm0.2 mm is decreased from 520℃ to 390℃, its burning temperature is decreased from 1 500℃ to 850℃ and they can burn stably. After the thermite added, their action duration increases from 1.2 s to 1.6 s. However the infrared radiation intensity somewhat decreases. By analyzing its performances such as ignition temperature, burning stability and radiation intensity, the performance of PTFE/Mg-based infrared decoy may be improved by adding P/CuO thermite. It is suitable for the design requirement for discrete array infrared decoy ignited by dispersing.